Charter school teachers will vote today on unionizing

Teachers at the charter school fighting for its survival will vote today on whether to unionize.

JENNA EBERSOLE

Teachers at the charter school fighting for its survival will vote today on whether to unionize.

The Pocono Mountain Charter School has warred for years with the Pocono Mountain School District over the status of its charter and seen scandal and contention among its leaders.

A judge last month appointed an attorney custodian of the school to take over from the school board and reconstitute a board.

Today, 40 teachers at the school will cast ballots on whether to join the Pennsylvania State Education Association. Custodian Alan Young said he had no comment on the vote, which will be conducted after school hours with results announced the same day.

PSEA Organizing Director Kelby Waltman said teachers contacted him in the fall about the possibility, with work beginning at that point to build support internally before filing for the election.

For a vote, 30 percent of the potential bargaining unit must signal interest in joining the union. PSEA, as a policy, does not file for an election unless estimates of people in favor are in the 60-65 percent range, he said, though he could not predict an outcome.

Waltman said he also could not specify which teachers are leading the campaign, but they have given him background on some of the previous issues at the school, including with its former CEO who was indicted for federal tax fraud in March.

"I don't know that that's a concern anymore now that he's left," Waltman said, but teachers believe that being part of the union "may have been some help to them."

The push to join the union, he said, is based on more than salary questions as the staff seeks transparency.

"I think more and more charter school teachers are recognizing the need to unionize," he said. "Lots of times, they're paid much lower than their traditional public school counterparts. They don't have the basic rights that teachers have in their traditional schools."

"I think it's trending up," he added.

Waltman cited a decision by the National Labor Relations Board, which ruled late last year that charter school teachers are private rather than public sector employees and fall therefore under the federal National Labor Relations Act.

Traditional public school teachers, in contrast, fall under the state Public Employees Relations Act and therefore have more limits on bargaining, Waltman said. For instance, they cannot bargain on class sizes.

"In the private sector, that's unplowed territory," he said.

At the last board meeting, Young approved salaries for the 2013-14 school year for staff and tabled bonuses for this year due to straightening of financial records. But he said at the meeting that early indications were that salary levels for staff are below market levels.

Waltman said the union, too, would analyze how salaries stack up compared to others in the area if the proposal goes through.

Marsha Rogers, who has two children at the school, said she first heard about the union possibility a few weeks ago. Rogers spoke out at the last board meeting on the importance of the school to her children.

"It all depends on the reason why they're trying to bring the union in," she said. "I think the union would stabilize things as far as teachers are concerned, but at the same token, I don't understand what more they need — what they're looking for."

Parent Cynara Liburd said after a board meeting Tuesday night that she loves the teachers at the school and understands them seeking the protection of a consolidated group. "I think it's a good thing," she said.